This morning, I was wandering around the second floor of the Ritz Carlton hotel, a swanky establishment downtown, with a photographer from Congressional Quarterly. Up by the banquet rooms, I was peering at doorways to see if I could find any signs with events, when a young man said, “You are in the right place!” and waved us toward a room. There was a sign in front of it saying “DNC Finance Committee Information.” I took this photo, but alas it’s blurry.

Inside the room I asked another helpful young man what he was doing. “Was this room for donors?” I asked. he said, yes, that he was giving them maps and telling them about events. “Are there any events going on right now,” I asked? He said, “Yes, there’s a shuttle to take them over to the Pepsi Center so they can get their photos taken on the podium.”

Earlier that morning my son Leo and I had stopped by the Big Tent, where the Sunlight Foundation is a sponsor. Leo was very excited to see the forklift out front–apparently they’re still putting final touches on the structure. We got our credentials and then went in the building next door, known as the Alliance Center, to wander around a bit.

On the third floor is the Huffington Post “oasis,” where staffers dressed in all black presided. Here weary bloggers can get healthy snacks–they gave Leo some nuts and a strawberry smoothie–do yoga and get free massages. (I’ll admit I signed up for the latter, although I doubt I’ll have time to follow through on it. That would be the most I’d ever gotten “Paid” by HuffPo, though I’ve blogged there occasionally over the years.) I’m pretty certain that if I were a member of Congress, accepting a free massage would be off limits. But who knows–I’d have to check with the ethics committees.

Ok, first apologies to the writers of Fiddler on the Roof for that headline.

Leslie Wayne and Michael Luo of The New York Times nail the convention party story today in their report on how campaign donors to the political parties are getting, well, a little special treatment when they attend the Democratic and Republican conventions.

Major donors to the Democratic Party, the Obama campaign and the Denver host committee are getting Invesco sky boxes. Donors giving $1,000 to the Obama Victory Fund in Colorado get “club level” seats and a postspeech reception. And bundlers who delivered on their $250,000 pledges will get premium seats and convention passes.

On the Republican side:

[M]ajor McCain and Republican National Committee, many of them lobbyists, are getting a special Platinum Package, which provides hotel rooms at the Grand Hotel or the Westin in Minneapolis, exclusive dinners and cocktail receptions, as well as a Tuesday night party featuring the comedian Dennis Miller. The group, referred to as McCain Friends and Family, has its own schedule of events, part of what campaigns call “donor maintenance.”

The important thing to remember about these donor perks, parties, and receptions is that because they are part of political fundraising, they are exempt from the new ethics law, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. That means no worry about toothpicks, none about whether an event is “widely attended” or not-no worry about anything like that. Even though there still are plenty of old-fashioned entertainment at the conventions sponsored by special interests, my guess is that a lot of the partying action has moved to these donor events.

Over the last few days there has been some great reporting on the upcoming party scene at the Denver and Republican conventions, not least because many of the articles mention our own humble newly launched website.

In the picture is worth 1,000 words category, the Las Vegas Sun’s Lisa Mascaro’s story displays a “slider” without a toothpick and one cut in half with a toothpick, to illustrate how the “toothpick rule” governing convention parties works. Those who wish to attend members of Congress or top staff under this exception to the gift rule can serve the one with the toothpick, but not the one without.

Jim Kuhnhenn of the Associated Press reports that medical trade groups are feting lawmakers in Denver and the Twin Cities:

The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians and other medical groups will hold joint receptions for members of Congress at both conventions.

“The idea is to give our leadership a chance to be with these folks to talk about our issues and make sure that our issues are out there,” said Michael Fleming, a physician who is chairman of the board of directors of FamMedPac, the family physicians’ political action committee.

Brody Mullins and Elizabeth Williamson at The Wall Street Journal write on the proliferation of events at the conventions that technically qualify as charitable events, another ethics law exemption.

The rules don’t apply to charitable fundraisers. So lawmakers and aides are free to play in a poker tournament sponsored by the Poker Players Alliance. Funding for the event and charitable contributions come from the alliance and various other sponsors. Because proceeds will go to the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the poker lobby can pick up the tab for the event and attend along with about 200 poker celebrities, lawmakers, aides and delegates. Guests will be given $5,000 worth of chips for the four-hour tournament, with the winnings going to the veterans group. A spokeswoman for the alliance says the event complies with the law.

And they also illustrate the “widely attended event” exemption:

Another popular party exemption is the so-called “widely-attended” event clause. Under that rule, corporations can pick up the tab for parties if they meet two conditions. One is that at least 25 people invited are not members of Congress or staff. The second condition, which applies only to House members: The party must have some element that relates to official congressional business.

So when the Recording Industry Association of America decided to throw the Kanye West party, it teamed up with the One Campaign in order to promote solutions to global AIDS and poverty. Literature on the topic will be available at the event and several speakers will address poverty relief before the concert.

“The truth is the ethics changes haven’t affected our parties very much,” said Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the trade association.

Likewise, when the Distilled Spirits Council throws the “Spirits of Denver,” party goers will hear a brief presentation on how to prevent underage drinking.

With the parties about to start, I’ve got some butterflies in my stomach about crashing them. I am fortifying myself with certain feminine rituals-new lipstick and a fresh pedicure. I’m for ridding the world of poverty and AIDS, and now that I’m a mother, I’m certainly against underage drinking. But will the party hosts let me in to these parties so I can be educated on these matters? We’ll see.

Check out this great whimsical guide for lawmakers on what they can and can’t do at the conventions this year as per the new ethics law, the Honest Government and Open Leadership Act, coming your way from the Center for Responsive Politics. They include:

1) Do not be an honored guest.

2) Leave your dancing shoes in Washington.

3) Put your poker face on.

4) Pack a snack.

To get the details read the guide!

I tell you I’m shocked. After months of reading story after story about how tough it was for the Denver host committee to raise its goal of $40.6 million to pay for the Democratic National Convention, the Denver Post reports that planners have succeeded.

The story gives props to Mayor John Hickenlooper for being “tenacious,” and points out the efforts also to lobbyist Steve Farber, of Brownstein, Hyatt who “staked his reputation on getting the bills paid, reaching out to contacts near and far.”

Hickenlooper is quoted noting that Sen. Barack Obama’s decision to give his acceptance speech at Invesco Field was quite helpful in raising cash. “With Invesco Field, you can do much nicer packages,” he said.

Earlier the Denver Post had reported that top fundraisers for the “Obama Victory Fund” were offered club-level seats for $1,000 apiece, and that some of the biggest donors to the host committee were getting “ultra-plush suites”:

Separately, almost all of the 131 private luxury suites, which seat from 14 to 20 people, are being granted to big donors and party officials. Corporations such as Xcel Energy and MolsonCoors, which have donated more than $1 million to the Denver committee hosting the convention, have been granted suites. So have party VIPs including Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Gov. Bill Ritter and Sen. Ken Salazar, who have served the host committee as fundraisers.

I never doubted that the host committee would meet its goals. With a big soft money loophole allowing corporations, special interests, and wealthy individuals to give unlimited amounts of cash to the host committee, with all that organizers were offering in terms of special access–well, let’s just say I had confidence they would be able to pull it off.

My favorite quote of the day, from former Rep. Bob Ney, in his first interview after his release from a Cincinnati half way house. Ney served prison time after being sentenced in January 2007 after pleading guilty to corruption charges related to his association with the infamous lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is now doing time himself.

“I think lobbyists are still needed they are needed out there [but] the question is: Would a member do something for money? I think that the lobby will will probably help somewhat, but it was most likely a cosmetic situation too because lobbyists are still allowed to host things at conventions and lobbyists are still out there.”

(emphasis added)

Sometimes a title just says it all: “Party Conventions Are Free-For-All for Influence Peddling,” says Public Citizen in an excellent new report issued today. If you are looking for a primer on the legal loopholes that allow lobbyists to keep paying and partying in Denver and the Twin Cities over the next few weeks, this is the place to go.

For example, it walks the reader through all the many exceptions of the new ethics law, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. It’s not ok for a lobbyist to pay for a party honoring a particular lawmaker-but it is ok for a lobbyist to pay for a reception where lawmakers are invited, as long as they follow the infamous “toothpick rule,” under which you can’t sit down to eat a steak dinner, but you can stand up and eat a kobe beef meatball.

Public Citizen says that some of the parties we’ve listed here on Party Time may cross the line into illegality. For example, an AT&T reception at the Republican convention honoring the Republican Main Street Partnership.

Public Citizen, like Party Time, will be watching the party scene in Denver and the Twin Cities. We’ll keep you posted.

Just as we were preparing to launch this new website, we got another juicy email from one of our anonymous sources, containing an updated list of convention parties and events as compiled by the top Washington lobbying firm, Quinn Gillespie & Associates.

Click here for the updated version of the Democratic convention party events and here for the Republican. They show some new details about events already reported and also some new ones. For example:

• On Wednesday, August 27, a party called “Sharing Miracles,” at the Denver Aquarium, hosted by Hon. Billy Tauzin, former member of Congress and President and CEO of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
• Twin receptions, one at the Democratic Convention, on Tuesday, August 26, at the Ritz Carlton ballroom, the other at the Republican Convention, on Wednesday, September 3, at Carlson Hangar in the St. Paul Airport, called “A Toast to Travel, Hospitality and Real Estate Across America,” with sponsors including Mariott, Starwood, TIA, IFA, Carlson, National Real Estate Organizations, American Hotel & Lodging Association, American Resort Development Association, Asian American Hotel Owners Association, Distilled Spirits Council, DLA Piper, NAREIT, National Business Travel Association, Printing Industries of America and the Travel Business Roundtable.
• A “Celebration of Free Speech,” on September 2, at the Republican Convention, sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters.

We’ll be adding these events to our searchable database as soon as our army of interns/revelers can get them in there. In the meanwhile, you can page through these pdfs to find these new nuggets.

You’ll soon see that the list of Democratic parties is a bit, well, heftier, than those listed for the Republican events. We don’t know for sure if that’s because there are more parties in Denver than in the Twin Cities, or whether the lobbying firm has just done a better job at collecting invites for Denver parties. But we’ll keep watching.

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Today we are officially launching this website. Our count of convention parties in our database is now above 400-and counting. What’s very important to keep in mind: many of these party hosts are also sponsors of the conventions’ host committees, major donors to federal candidates and party committees and are also big spenders on federal lobbying.

So, for example:

• AT&T is hosting more than a dozen parties at both conventions, most of them parties for different state delegations. The company is also underwriting both the Democratic and GOP Convention committees, and happens to be the #2 top donor to federal and candidates and parties since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. AT&T has spent more than $3 million on federal campaign contributions and lobbying combined in 2008 alone, 60% of which is directed to the GOP. It has also spent another $3.2 million on federal lobbying.

• Qwest’s CEO, Ed Mueller, is hosting an event at the Denver Art Museum on Monday, August 25. The company is also giving the Democratic and GOP Convention host committees a total of some $12 million in direct and in-kind contributions. Qwest has given $682,000 to federal candidates and parties so far this election cycle, and spent $1.7 million on lobbying.

• A long list of financial service powerhouses are sponsoring a “financial literacy brunch” at the Democratic National Convention, including Allstate, AEGON, Bank of America, Capitol One, Charles Schwab, Edward Jones, Fidelity, Genworth, MasterCard, Mutual of Omaha, Nationwide, Principal Financial Group, State Farm, NASDAQ, US Bank, Visa, Wachovia and Wells Fargo. These companies are major campaign contributors and lobbying forces in Washington.

Tune in here to track these parties and events at the conventions. And of course we’ll also tell you what we know about Congressional fundraising parties after the conventions are over. There’s a motherlode of information here already on fundraising parties for members of Congress and congressional candidates, Democrats and Republicans alike, dating back to 2006.

Also, please remember-we want to hear from you about where the parties are. The more you tell us, the better resource this website will be for all you journalists, activists, and bloggers out there. Party on.

We just got a big juicy surprise that we can’t wait to share. We now have in our possession a pair of documents listing 370 events at the Democratic National Convention in Denver and the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis. The lists were compiled by a top Washington lobbying firm, Quinn Gillespie & Associates. We’ll be entering these parties into our Party Time database so they are searchable.

A sampling of the parties listed include:
Democratic National Convention

• An opening night party on Sunday at the Democratic National Convention by the lobbying firm Brownstein, Hyatt, where convention organizer, Steven Farber, works, at the Denver Art Museum;
• A DNC top donor reception that same night;
• A variety of events for delegates sponsored by AT&T;
• A “late nite” party at The Loft sponsored by USTelecom on Monday night
• An “FSR Literacy” luncheon on Tuesday sponsored by a host of financial companies.

Republican National Convention

• A health care luncheon on Tuesday sponsored by Eli Lilly;
• A host of parties sponsored by AT&T, including a “Texas honky tonk,” a Young Guns” reception, and an African American voter reception and a Hispanic voter reception;
• A reception sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters;
• Hospitality suites sponsored by Honeywell, Anheuser Busch, and Citi;
• A wrap party hosted by the lobbying firm Patton Boggs.

It’s not a complete list by any means-we already have some convention parties in our database that don’t appear here. And we’ll continue to collect more as we here of them.

As I wrote the other day, these parties are going on despite the passage of a new ethics law, lobbyists are finding a way to live within its loopholes. It’s our job at Party Time to show you how they are doing it.